Space News and Discussions

[raklian]

If there is no gravity, there is no buoyancy. Counterintuitive, isn't it?

[weatheriscool]

NASA waves off next Artemis I launch attempt due to tropical storm
Source: CNN

CNN — The Artemis I rocket will not have its third launch attempt on Tuesday as planned due to concerns over Tropical Storm Ian making its way toward Cuba and Florida. After meeting on Saturday morning, NASA’s Artemis team decided to forgo the September 27 launch opportunity and is now preparing the mega moon rocket stack for rollback.

“On Tuesday, Tropical Storm Ian is forecast to be moving north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane, just off the southwest coast of Florida. A cold front will also be draped across northern Florida pushing south,” said CNN Meteorologist Haley Brink.

“The combination of these weather factors will allow for increased rain chances across much of the Florida peninsula on Tuesday, including the Cape Canaveral area. Showers and thunderstorms are forecast to be numerous and widespread across the region. Tropical storm-force winds from Ian could also arrive as early as Tuesday night across central Florida.” Meanwhile, the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft continue to sit on the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Team members continue to monitor the weather as they make a decision about when to roll the rocket stack back into the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy. NASA will receive information from the US Space Force, the National Hurricane Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to inform their decision.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/24/world/na ... index.html

[wjfox]

[raklian]

Live stream of DART impact.




See the asteroid whose moon (not yet visible) DART will impact? This is how far away it is at this instance.



EDIT: As of 22:22 UTC, moon is now coming into view.

[weatheriscool]

NASA's DART spacecraft will crash into an asteroid tonight in historic planetary defense test
Source: Space.com

Brace for impact. NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft is hurtling toward the asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos, and it'll reach its target tonight (Sept. 26). At 7:14 p.m. EDT (2314 GMT), if all goes well, DART will crash into Dimorphos in an attempt to alter the moonlet's trajectory. The mission is meant to test the theory that this technique could be used to divert an asteroid heading straight for Earth.

While neither Dimorphos nor Didymos pose a threat to our planet, and nothing that happens today can change that, the results of the DART mission will provide crucial data for scientists and engineers to develop plans for planetary defense. DART, which is managed for NASA by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), marks the first-ever planetary defense test. You can watch the DART asteroid impact live online, courtesy of NASA, beginning at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT).

"This is an exciting time, not only for the agency but in space history and in the history of humankind, quite frankly," Lindley Johnson, NASA's planetary defense officer, said in a news conference held on Thursday (Sept. 22). "This demonstration is extremely important to our future here on Earth."

DART launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Nov. 23, 2021, and has since been traveling the 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) to Didymos and Dimorphos. As DART approaches Dimorphos, it will use its sole instrument, the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO), to autonomously navigate to its impact zone. Considering that scientists estimate Dimorphos has a diameter of just 560 feet (170 meters), that's no easy task.

Read more: https://www.space.com/nasa-dart-asteroid-impact-preview

[raklian]

It's now precision locked by the impactor. Impact in 10 minutes.



Impact in under 3 minutes.



40 seconds.



Right before impact!

[weatheriscool]

Bam! NASA spacecraft crashes into asteroid in defense test
Source: AP

By MARCIA DUNN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft rammed an asteroid at blistering speed Monday in an unprecedented dress rehearsal for the day a killer rock menaces Earth.

The galactic slam occurred at a harmless asteroid 7 million miles (11.3 million kilometers) away, with the spacecraft named Dart plowing into the space rock at 14,000 mph (22,500 kph). Scientists expected the impact to carve out a crater, hurl streams of rocks and dirt into space and, most importantly, alter the asteroid’s orbit.

“We have impact!” Mission Control’s Elena Adams announced, jumping up and down and thrusting her arms skyward.

Telescopes around the world and in space aimed at the same point in the sky to capture the spectacle. Though the impact was immediately obvious — Dart’s radio signal abruptly ceased — it will take as long as a couple of months to determine how much the asteroid’s path was changed.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/nasa-dart-as ... osition_02

[weatheriscool]

Scientists depict Dragonfly landing site on Saturn moon Titan
https://phys.org/news/2022-09-scientist ... aturn.html
by Blaine Friedlander, Cornell University

When NASA's 990-pound Dragonfly rotorcraft reaches the Selk crater region—the mission's target touchdown spot—on Saturn's moon Titan in 2034, Cornell's Léa Bonnefoy will have helped to make it a smooth landing.

Bonnefoy and her colleagues assisted the future arrival by characterizing the equatorial, hummocky, knoll-like landscape by combining and analyzing all of the radar images of the area acquired by the Cassini spacecraft during its historic 13 year exploration of the Saturn system. They used radar reflectivity and angled shadows to determine the properties of the surface.

Effectively, it's a scene of sand dunes and broken-up icy ground.

The research, "Composition, Roughness, and Topography from Radar Backscatter at Selk Crater, the Dragonfly Landing Site," was published Aug. 30 in The Planetary Science Journal.

"Dragonfly—the first flying machine for a world in the outer solar system—is going to a scientifically remarkable area," said Bonnefoy, a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Alex Hayes, associate professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences.

"Dragonfly will land in an equatorial, dry region of Titan—a frigid, thick-atmosphere, hydrocarbon world," Bonnefoy said. "It rains liquid methane sometimes, but it is more like a desert on Earth—where you have dunes, some little mountains and an impact crater. We're looking closely at the landing site, its structure and surface. To do that, we're examining radar images from the Cassini-Huygens mission, looking at how radar signal changes from different viewing angles."

[wjfox]

Nasa, SpaceX study Hubble telescope re-boost mission

5 hours ago

Nasa and the SpaceX rocket company are to study the feasibility of running a private astronaut mission to extend the life of the Hubble telescope.

The orbiting observatory, one of the greatest instruments in the history of science, is gradually losing altitude.

If nothing is done to re-boost it, the telescope will eventually fall into the atmosphere and burn up.

Hubble was serviced on five occasions by astronauts in Nasa's space shuttle, the last time being in 2009.

Since then, the telescope has come down by about 25km and now circles the Earth at a height of 540km.

Ideally, Nasa would like to get the observatory back up to the 600km altitude where it was positioned at launch in 1990.

This might give it an additional 20-30 years of life, although longevity would also be heavily dependent on the continued good operation of the telescope's systems and, in particular, its four instruments.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63084707

[caltrek]

Hubble and Webb Pics Reveal DART Impact Was Even Bigger Than Expected
by Daniel Lawler
September 30, 2022

Introduction:

(Science Alert) The James Webb and Hubble telescopes on Thursday revealed their first images of a spacecraft deliberately smashing into an asteroid, as astronomers indicated that the impact looks to have been much greater than expected.

The world's telescopes turned their gaze towards the space rock Dimorphos earlier this week for a historic test of Earth's ability to defend itself against a potential life-threatening asteroid in the future.

Astronomers rejoiced as NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor slammed into its pyramid-sized, rugby ball-shaped target 11 million kilometers (6.8 million miles) from Earth on Monday night.

Images taken by Earth-bound telescopes showed a vast cloud of dust expanding out of Dimorphos – and its big brother Didymos which it orbits – after the spaceship hit.

While those images showed matter spraying out over thousands of kilometers, the James Webb and Hubble images "zoom in much closer", said Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer at Queen's University Belfast involved in observations with the ATLAS project.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/hubble-an ... -expected

[weatheriscool]

Hubble and Webb Pics Reveal DART Impact Was Even Bigger Than Expected
by Daniel Lawler
September 30, 2022

Introduction:

(Science Alert) The James Webb and Hubble telescopes on Thursday revealed their first images of a spacecraft deliberately smashing into an asteroid, as astronomers indicated that the impact looks to have been much greater than expected.

The world's telescopes turned their gaze towards the space rock Dimorphos earlier this week for a historic test of Earth's ability to defend itself against a potential life-threatening asteroid in the future.

Astronomers rejoiced as NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor slammed into its pyramid-sized, rugby ball-shaped target 11 million kilometers (6.8 million miles) from Earth on Monday night.

Images taken by Earth-bound telescopes showed a vast cloud of dust expanding out of Dimorphos – and its big brother Didymos which it orbits – after the spaceship hit.

While those images showed matter spraying out over thousands of kilometers, the James Webb and Hubble images "zoom in much closer", said Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer at Queen's University Belfast involved in observations with the ATLAS project.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/hubble-an ... -expected

Nice...I think an impacter would be much more effective if we used a few hundred megatons of nuclear bombs behind the punch. I can't imagine a realisic defense system of protecting not having something to do with nuclear. Outside of maybe painting one side of the asteroid and slowly but surely the differences in color causes it to steer away from our planet but you're talking about many years.

[weatheriscool]

NASA, SpaceX to Study Possible Hubble Telescope Servicing Mission
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/339 ... ng-mission
By Ryan Whitwam on October 3, 2022 at 7:54 am

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been orbiting all by its lonesome since the final servicing mission in 2009, but it might get some company soon. NASA and SpaceX have signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement to explore the possibility of sending a Crew Dragon spacecraft to push the aging telescope into a higher orbit. If such a mission is determined to be workable, it could extend the life of the iconic observatory by years.

Hubble was launched more than 30 years ago, and while it had a rocky start, NASA improved the observatory’s optics and unlocked a window to the wider universe. Even though the James Webb Space Telescope is now online and doing some amazing science, Hubble remains one of the most powerful telescopes in humanity’s arsenal. It seems a shame to let that capability slip away as Hubble drifts ever closer to atmospheric reentry, which will happen in about 10 years if nothing is done.

That’s where SpaceX comes in. With support from billionaire commercial astronaut Jason Isaacman and his Polaris Program, SpaceX will study the possibility of using a Dragon capsule to push Hubble into a higher orbit. It is currently circling Earth at an altitude of 332 miles (535 kilometers), putting it on target to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in the mid-2030s. The primary goal of such a mission would be to take Hubble back up to 372 miles (600 kilometers), where it was at the start of the mission. NASA believes a plan that could accomplish that would give Hubble another 15 or 20 years of life.

[weatheriscool]

SpaceX Launches NASA’s Crew-5 Mission to International Space Station
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/340 ... ce-station
By Ryan Whitwam on October 6, 2022 at 7:03 am

The latest group of astronauts is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) following a textbook SpaceX launch. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off just after noon local time on Wednesday, beginning the Crew-5 mission. The astronauts will arrive at the station about 29 hours after launch to begin their stint in Earth orbit. This is also the first mission in which SpaceX is picking up the slack from Boeing’s delayed CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.

Crew-5 includes NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, as well as Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina. All will spend six months living and working aboard the ISS. As the name implies, this is the fifth crewed flight for NASA operated by SpaceX, which has the only vehicle certified to carry astronauts for NASA at this time. This launch brings its total astronaut passenger count to an even 30.

SpaceX has been launching rockets at an incredible pace over the past several years. When you figure in demo missions and private launches, this is the eighth crewed launch for SpaceX in just two years. Naturally, it succeeded in landing the first-stage booster on a drone ship following separation, something that was worthy of coverage all on its own earlier in the Falcon 9’s life but has now become commonplace.

[weatheriscool]

Sharpest Earth-based images of Europa and Ganymede reveal their icy landscapes


https://phys.org/news/2022-10-sharpest- ... ymede.html
by University of Leicester

The cocktail of chemicals that make up the frozen surfaces on two of Jupiter's largest moons are revealed in the most detailed images ever taken of them by a telescope on Earth.

Planetary scientists from the University of Leicester's School of Physics and Astronomy have unveiled new images of Europa and Ganymede, two future destinations for exciting new missions to the Jovian system.

Some of the sharpest images of Jupiter's moons ever acquired from a ground-based observatory, they reveal new insights into the processes shaping the chemical composition of these massive moons—including geological features such as the long rift-like linae cutting across Europa's surface.

Ganymede and Europa are two of the four largest moons orbiting Jupiter, known as the Galilean moons. Whilst Europa is quite similar in size to our own Moon, Ganymede is the largest moon in the whole Solar System.

[weatheriscool]

JPL's Venus aerial robotic balloon prototype aces test flights

by Jet Propulsion Laboratory
https://phys.org/news/2022-10-jpl-venus ... lloon.html

A scaled-down version of the aerobot that could one day take to the Venusian skies successfully completed two Nevada test flights, marking a milestone for the project.

The intense pressure, heat, and corrosive gases of Venus' surface are enough to disable even the most robust spacecraft in a matter of hours. But a few dozen miles overhead, the thick atmosphere is far more hospitable to robotic exploration.

One concept envisions pairing a balloon with a Venus orbiter, the two working in tandem to study Earth's sister planet. While the orbiter would remain far above the atmosphere, taking science measurements and serving as a communication relay, an aerial robotic balloon, or aerobot, about 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter would travel into it.

To test this concept, a team of scientists and engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the Near Space Corporation in Tillamook, Oregon, recently carried out two successful flights of a prototype balloon that's about a third of that size.

The shimmering silver balloon ascended more than 4,000 feet (1 kilometer) over Nevada's Black Rock Desert to a region of Earth's atmosphere that approximates the temperature and density the aerobot would experience about 180,000 feet (55 kilometers) above Venus. Coordinated by Near Space, these tests represent a milestone in proving the concept's suitability for accessing a region of Venus' atmosphere too low for orbiters to reach, but where a balloon mission could operate for weeks or even months.

[weatheriscool]

Study suggests shallow lakes in icy crust of Jupiter's moon Europa could erupt
https://phys.org/news/2022-10-shallow-l ... piter.html
by JPL/NASA

In the search for life beyond Earth, subsurface bodies of water in our outer solar system are some of the most important targets. That's why NASA is sending the Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter's moon Europa: There is strong evidence that under a thick crust of ice, the moon harbors a global ocean that could potentially be habitable.

But scientists believe the ocean isn't the only water on Europa. Based on observations from NASA's Galileo orbiter, they believe salty liquid reservoirs may reside inside the moon's icy shell—some of them close to the surface of the ice and some many miles below.

The more scientists understand about the water that Europa may be holding, the more likely they will know where to look for it when NASA sends Europa Clipper in 2024 to conduct a detailed investigation. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter and use its suite of sophisticated instruments to gather science data as it flies by the moon about 50 times.

Now, research is helping scientists better understand what the subsurface lakes in Europa may look like and how they behave. A key finding in a paper published recently in The Planetary Science Journal supports the longstanding idea that water could potentially erupt above the surface of Europa either as plumes of vapor or as cryovolcanic activity (think: flowing, slushy ice rather than molten lava).

The computer modeling in the paper goes further, showing that if there are eruptions on Europa, they likely come from shallow, wide lakes embedded in the ice and not from the global ocean far below.

"We demonstrated that plumes or cryolava flows could mean there are shallow liquid reservoirs below, which Europa Clipper would be able to detect," said Elodie Lesage, Europa scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and lead author of the research. "Our results give new insights into how deep the water might be that's driving surface activity, including plumes. And the water should be shallow enough that it can be detected by multiple Europa Clipper instruments."

[raklian]

[caltrek]

Strange Ripples Have Been Detected at The Edge of The Solar System
by Michele Starr
October 11, 2022

Introduction:

(Science Alert) The bubble of space encasing the Solar System might be wrinkled, at least sometimes.

Data from a spacecraft orbiting Earth has revealed ripple structures in the termination shock and heliopause: shifting regions of space that mark one of the boundaries between the space inside the Solar System, and what's outside – interstellar space.

The results show that it's possible to get a detailed picture of the boundary of the Solar System and how it changes over time.

This information will help scientists better understand a region of space known as the heliosphere, which pushes out from the Sun and shields the planets in our Solar System from cosmic radiation.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/strange-r ... ar-system

[weatheriscool]

Astronauts returning home from space station splash down off Florida coast
Source: CNN

Four astronauts boarded a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and returned home from the International Space Station on Friday, bringing an end to their nearly six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The astronauts — NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins as well as Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti with the European Space Agency or ESA — shared goodbye hugs with other astronauts on the space station and strapped into their spacecraft around 10 a.m. ET.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft left its docking port at the ISS around noon ET and made a gradual trek home toward the edge of Earth’s thick inner atmosphere. Then, the capsule lit up its thrusters again to orient itself as it began its reentry. This step began to slow the spacecraft from its orbital speed of about 17,500 miles per hour (28,164 kilometers per hour). A heat shield kept the astronauts protected as the fiery swoop back toward Earth heated the spacecraft’s exterior to more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius).

A plume of parachutes then slowed its descent further before it came to a splashdown landing off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, just before 5 p.m. ET. Rescue ships waited nearby and hauled the spacecraft out of the water, allowing the astronauts to exit the capsule and take their first breaths of fresh air in about 170 days.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/business ... index.html

[caltrek]

A Migrating Moon Might Have Turned Uranus Over on its Side
by Andy Tomaswick
October 11, 2022

Introduction:

(Universe Today) There are plenty of interesting things about Uranus. Its season lasts as long as its day, it’s the second least-dense planet, and it has a collection of 27 moons. But maybe the most puzzling fact about Uranus is that it is the only planet that lines on its side – relative to its orbital plane, at least. The most common suggestion for why the planet is tilted 98 degrees on its axis is that it was struck by a series of large impacts early in the solar system’s formation. However, new studies from a team at the Sorbonne point to a potential alternative explanation – Uranus used to have another, larger moon that pulled it onto its side and then impacted the planet itself.

A flurry of research into the orbital mechanics of the gas giants has been underway lately. That flurry helped to point out a series of flaws in our current model of what happened to Uranus. The most obvious flaw is highlighted by a similarity between Uranus and one of its neighbors – Neptune.

Neptune’s axial tilt is only 30 degrees – still a lot by planetary standards, but nowhere near the level of Uranus. However, both planets have similar spin rates. Impacts that are large enough to knock a whole planet on its side would also have a pretty significant impact on its spin rate. So it is not very likely that random minor impacts caused one planet to almost 70 degrees more than the other while not affecting their spin rates.

Read more here: https://www.universetoday.com/158038/a ... its-side/